Once Pārvathi bowed respectfully to Lord Parameswara and asked. “Oh Lord! Could you please explain about the science and origin of music that gives transcendent bliss to all the creatures in this Universe ? ”.

Lord said to his consort. Hey ! Pārvathi. Please listen carefully. I created the Panchabhoothās and the Saptaswarās that form the base of Sangeetha Sāsthra from my 5 faces.

Once again, the auspicious Navarathri has started. As mentioned earlier in this blog, Navarathri is the worship of Goddess in the forms of Durga , Lakshmi and Saraswathi on nine days followed by Vijayadasami on the tenth day. The first three days we worship Goddess Durga who is “Durgathi Haarini “, one who removes all evil thoughts and evil tendencies from our mind.The aspect of “Tamo Guna” characterised by Mahishasura – the embodiment of greed, absolute laziness(jadatwam) is completely destroyed. Hence she is described as Mahishasura Mardhini.

It was a pleasant surprise for me when I recieved a mail from a person named Jayakrishan from US, introducing himself as a scientist and the great grandson of Sri. Attur Krishna Pisharodi, a vainika and musicologist. Sri. Attur Krishna Pisharody is known for his magnum opus work Sangeetha Chandrika which is a treatise of music.

Raga Rithigowla-a rakti raga- with a mesmerising melody is taken up with an Analysis of the Krithi Janani Ninivinaa by Subbraya Sastri, the son and disciple of the Great Syama Sastri. Both Syama Sastri and Subbaraya Sastri composed krithis and the highlight is the content of the krithi, which would literally be a personal conversation of a Child to his Mother ! The dialogues are mostly, Who is there to take care of me other than you !

Continuing with the Second Ubhaya Vakra Raga in the series.Raga Sahana-a rakti raga- with high melodic content is taken up with an Analysis of the Krithi Giripai Nelakonna Ramuni by Saint Tyagaraja.Of course, the Krithi is in praise of Lord Rama.

Here is an attempt to present a series of Analysis of Ubhaya Vakra Ragas – Neelambari, Sahana and Ritigowla with respect to the krithis composed by Muthuswamy Dikshitar,Tyagarajar and Subbaraya Sastri respectively.

Ubhaya Vakra means that the notes in both ascent and descent follow a zig zag pattern. The vakra phrases lends a unique beauty to these ragas.

The first raga chosen is Neelambari and the Krithi is the immortal Amba Neelayathakshi set to 2 kalai Adi Talam. This Krithi is about the goddess Neelayadakshi. Neelayadakshi means the one with the blue eyes. She is in the form of a pubescent girl, and is believed to be one of the Shakti Peetams. She is also considered to be one among the five most important goddesses, all in different stages of life. These are – Visalakshi (Kashi – Child), Kamakshi (Kanchi – young girl), Neelayadakshi (Nagai – pubescent), Kamalambigai (Thiruvarur – young woman) and Meenakshi (Madurai – married woman).

Though Ragas can be classified under several heads like Shadava, Audava, Sampoorna, Swarantara, Bhashanga, Upanga, Vakra etc, this particular post lays emphasis on the aspect of classifying ragas according to gender-male, female and neuter ragas.

Narada was the first to introduce the concept of classifying ragas according to masculine(male), feminine(female) and neuter(Napumsaka) groups.

An analysis of the Grand Composition of Muthuswami Dikshithar “Sree Subramanyaya Namasthe“in the Grand Raga Kamboji is attempted in this article. Dikshithar has composed this krithi in 2 Kalai Rupaka Talam. Perhaps, Dikshithar is the only composer who has composed krithis in 2 kalai Rupakam. Kamboji is an ancient raga mentioned in musical treatises like Sangeetha Ratnakaram,Sangeetha Makaranda, Sangeetha Samayasara. The raga has its name “Takkesi” in Tamil Pann and “Kamodari” in Kathakali Sangeetham.

Dikshitar compositions may be described as the products of a mood of contemplation and meditation (dhyana) and reflect the solemnity of the vast inner silence. Behind the marvel of architectural design in sound, there is, in the depth of the songs of Dikshitar, a sense of sublimation, an experience of self-realisation. Every krithi of his may be likened to a Temple, in which the raga installed in the sanctum sanctorum (garbha griha) is situated in the innermost part and is to be reached through the various prakaras.

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A Carnatic forum named Center for Excellence in Carnatic Musicis introduced in facebook where every week focusses on a particular theme in relation to Carantic Music. This forum is an open discussion forum where members can post songs mp3, youtube video, lyrics, notations and all other related information with regard to the theme. Become a member (its free ) and learn more..

How to become a Member

Its quite simple. Search the name Center for Excellence in Carnatic Music in facebook and send a request for membership. After checking the profile of the requested user, membership will be approved by the ADMIN.

Disclaimer

All songs posted on this blog are meant to be sampled for your listening pleasure, but are not intended to infringe upon the rights of the artist. If you are an artist, or you own the copyrights to any of the songs on this blog, and wish to have the song taken down, please notify me and I will take it down immediately. Again, Music provided in this blog is mainly for educative purposes to encourage all of its followers to discover new music and support the artists by purchasing their music, not by downloading it illegally.